The One Without The Quinces

Did I mention that my daughter is allergic to peanuts? We haven't had peanut butter in our house since 2001 when I smeared a dab on her wrist and hives appeared immediately. She hasn't had peanut since. Neither has she ever had a reaction to peanut. She carries epipens but has never needed them. Thank heavens.

She is also allergic to pinenuts but hazelnuts, brazils, pecans, walnuts, almonds, pistachios and cashews are all fine. We eat these a lot. I've recently been buying cashew nut butter and almond butter. Oh, they are delicious and packed with nutrition but wow, they're expensive and only available in teeny jars from health food shops. Also because of my daughter's allergy her school is nut-free so she can't take nut butters to school, even ones she is not allergic to. But I have just discovered FreeNut Butter. That is what you can see in the pictures above.

Made from sunflower seeds. Not only does it look exactly like peanut butter, it tastes exactly like peanut butter (as far as I can remember).

I'd rather it didn't have sugar in it, but you can't have everything. It's packed with protein and other good things, is not nearly as expensive as other nut butters and comes in 1lb jars. There's a crunchy version too. I bought mine from Goodness Direct.

Before my daughter was born I used to make popcorn flavoured with peanut butter and maple syrup. I decided to try it with the sunflower butter.

Two tablespoons of popcorn with two tablespoons of oil. I used coconut oil. A medium-high heat.

Put the lid on and pop the corn.

Melt a tablespoon each of butter, maple syrup and peanut/sunflower butter in a small pan. You could use golden syrup or honey in place of maple syrup.

Thank you so much for your popcorn recipe. I generally just put maple syrup on it (even though that is now £4 a bottle eek!). I love hazel nut butter too - was not so keen on the cashew one, even though I like the nuts very much. I don't think I have tried the almond one. I think I will do this with peanut butter and syrup - sounds a real treat. I've got everything I need except the peanut butter - I will have to do some shopping!Siobhan

ooooo that looks so lovely. All my kids have nut allergies but middle littlie is going for food challenge for mixed nuts (except cashews) at childrens hospital in early December it makes me very nervous, but even if it goes ok the other two can't have them so we can't have nuts in the house! This looks like an awesome alternative I am gona track me some of this down!

Wow! That is really fabulous, absolutely brilliant. I must admit I have no food allergies that cause any problems(I have a slight allergy to some preservatives but not big enough to worry about) but I really admire the people who work tirelessly on the solutions for people that do. And that popcorn looks soooooooo yum. I adore maple syrup and peanut butter so on these cold nights I can see this being made in our home as we cuddle in to watch films and munch xxx

Hi Sue - have you thought about making the sunflower seed butter yourself if you want to reduce the sugar? I've never done it (I hadn't even heard of sunflower seed butter before your post) but guessing you would do it like making your own peanut butter ( I whizz salted peanuts in food processor, add oil and a little honey) - I do wonder if the sunflower seeds would grind down enough though.Ros

Hey! That's exactly how I make my popcorn, but I dont use the syrup, just plain simple white sugar. I melt it and do the rest exactly like you. :)Well... I'm from Brazil, but I'm not a nutty (lol... nah! I'm quite crazy in fact!), so hopefully your daughter is not gonna have any problems with me! :)Big hug from southern Brazil.